


The Undiscovered Country

by draculard



Series: Nightthrawn 15 Day Ficlets [15]
Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29707695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard
Summary: Thrawn wakes up, his chest still aching, on the bridge of an unknown ship.
Relationships: Nevil Cygni | Nightswan/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Series: Nightthrawn 15 Day Ficlets [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158710
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	The Undiscovered Country

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Day 15 Prompt, "Follow."
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr, I'm draculard there too.

He wakes, his chest still aching, on the deck of an empty starship. There are no injuries he can identify, but his memories rush forward, batter his mind until he forces himself to stand — slowly, expecting it to hurt even though it doesn’t — and looks around the bridge.

The walls are pearlescent, lit beneath the surface with flashing lights. The bridge is compact; a warship, but a small one, meant for skilled flights and reconnaissance, not for massive shows of power. It’s almost like a Chiss ship — almost like his own scout ship when he was a commander — if somebody had taken a blurry memory from his head and filled in the blanks with their own ideas, their own culture’s architecture and design.

Still, it’s beautiful. A blending of two worlds, seamless and graceful, one complementing the other. He puts his hand over his chest, massages the lingering pain away.

He hears a footstep behind him, turns to see a man he’s met or dreamed of or envisioned a thousand times, looking the same and entirely different all at once. Nightswan’s dark skin is smooth, roughened from years of hard work but not yet made coarse — he wears the scars of his years but isn’t disfigured by them. Looking down, Thrawn sees calluses on his own hands, lines that indicate hard work — but no bruises, no open cuts.

He looks up again only when he feels Nightswan’s hands on his cheeks, palms dry and warm. They’re close enough now that Thrawn can see the crinkles at the corners of Nightswan’s eyes when he smiles, sad but welcoming. 

“Glad you’re here,” he says. “Hope it wasn’t too painful.”

Thrawn blinks, inclines his head. He sees again a flash of pain: Rukh’s hand darting out toward Captain Pellaeon’s throat, a sting of agony in the center of his chest and back, a splash of blood. A swell of grief lodges in his throat, won’t let him speak.

Unfinished plans. Unmet goals. People left behind, unpolished, incomplete; people who weren’t quite ready to take over where he left off. He can see decades of work and sacrifices crumbling before his eyes, thinks he’d prefer it if all he felt was the pain of a knife in his chest, and nothing but darkness. Nightswan’s smile slips; he guides Thrawn’s head down, rests his forehead against Thrawn’s, silently encourages him to close his eyes.

“I know how it feels,” he murmurs, “but it gets better with time; fades like every other grief you’ve ever experienced. And there’s no shortage of work to do here. Trust me.”

He rubs his thumb in a circle over Thrawn’s cheekbone, slides it up to the shell of his ear, touches him gently until Thrawn can manage a nod. Nightswan releases him, pauses, takes a step back — toward the navigation controls, where he checks their course. Then to the entranceway, facing the long dark passageway that leads deeper into the ship. Lights flicker in the darkness, tantalizing and mysterious, their pattern unknown.

“If you’re ready…” he says to Thrawn, who still stands frozen on the walkway.

The hesitation feels like it lasts an eternity, but in time, Thrawn follows Nightswan through the door. 


End file.
